Rio Chama Prime Steakhouse — Restaurant in Santa Fe

So this restaurant had great reviews we went there and it was close to plaza it was a special night for us (not a holiday either) I have never experienced such poor service ever. for $50 a head on just food $20 glass of wine, I kind of expected we would at least get our waters refilled or asked if we wanted another beverage at some point. Nope 👎 I had one glass of wine 🍷 in 3 hours and had to stop a waitress to get another Our table was covered in dirty dishes after eating the fondue - that by the way was really good. The worse part was my 87 year old mother in law ordered a med rare prime rib and when the food was brought to us they put a well done prime rib in front of her - walked away The waitress finally came to check and we told her that the order was wrong - she acknowledged that grabbed the piece of meat and left - 5-10 min later she comes back with the same piece of meat and says it’s all we have - doesn’t offer any solutions just kind of like eat it lady - better solution would have been to see if she wanted a different cut of meat (just a suggestion) We asked for the manager That manager comes over and brings another over cooked well done prime rib to our table and again my mother in law doesn’t want it She says she will comp it - which we appreciate but- my mother in law still doesn’t want it because it’s not what she ordered and we had to ask if she could get something else (again we just wanted everyone to be happy with their food - we weren’t looking for a freebie ) if we sound difficult we weren’t at all and you guys know that - we didn’t pester at all for water or for you to clean our table - our only complaint was a very overcooked piece of meat you wanted $55-$60 for that my mother in law wasn’t going to eat We were treated like we were an inconvenience and this was a several hundred dollar night out that we were all ok with - it was a special night - but we are still talking about it because of how we were treated Then the manager says we will get you dessert (manager was trying to make it right thank you but it felt handled wrong all of it )- ok so the waitress comes back- we are all dying of thirst (our waters have been empty for 45 min at least) and everyone had eaten- only one that hasn’t is my mother in law (honestly this situation could have been handled in 5 min - “we don’t have it we are sorry can we get you something else “ and you would not have had to comp anything - we would have understood We order a dessert and she starts to walk away and my 9 year old daughter says oh I want one too and then she walks away again!! We actually wanted to order a few desserts! I mean we had been sitting there for hours but they didn’t ask just walked away again like we were bothering them. We were ok paying for our desserts and coffee by the way. We never had the chance to ask for coffee and at this point we were all staring at an 87 year old eat - slowly- so more drinks or dessert would have been nice or again clean our dishes off the table Here is the deal we didn’t expect anything for free and you treated us like horrible people when it was your fault. The waitress did not serve us or pay any attention then add 20% tip to the bill which you all know you didn’t deserve but I paid it and we left Do better Rio chama- the food was good otherwise but we will never return because of the service and absolute unprofessional treatment of customers who weren’t anything but polite and understanding of the situation until somehow you made it our fault your kitchen over cooked our order and kept bringing out cold meat for my mother in law to eat that she obviously did not want - three times you kept bringing the overcooked prime rib! Seriously if you don’t have a med rare just tell us this could have been fixed in 5 min but took over an hour I feel bad leaving two stars but the service was so horrible I can’t give anything higher even though the other food we ate was great. I hope you all can do better I usually delete negative reviews after a while but you all need to hear...

My wife and I ate here for my birthday during our first trip to Santa Fe. The overall experience was mediocre. Rio Chama missed the mark for us. I'm not particularly picky, but expect the cost of the meal to reflect the level of service and the quality of the meal. You won't find this at Rio Chama.

We ordered the Wild Boar Bacon appetizer since we both really like a charcuterie board and this sounded like a charcuterie board. The bacon had a decent flavor, but was rubbery and chewy. The goat cheese was nothing special... the sausage was OK, but again - nothing special. The cornichons were the only good thing about this appetizer - very tart and crispy. Overall - I would not recommend this appetizer. Not bad, but not very good either.

My wife ordered the salmon and seemed to enjoy it. I can't comment much about it because she didn't have much to say about it. I asked and she said - "it was ok." Maybe that is the take away here - it was OK, barely.

I ordered the ribeye medium with blackened seasoning... I know - never order a good steak with extra seasoning and... medium? Yes - I ordered medium. First, I love a good blackening seasoning if done right. Secondly, I like medium. I don't even mind medium well. I prefer it to a bloody steak. I asked the waiter about the blackening seasoning before I ordered - he assured me it is done well and is very good. So - here is what I got.

The steak was well done. Full gray all the way through. OK - I can live with that, but clearly not what I ordered. The blackening seasoning had a good flavor, but it was so thick. It left a pasty texture on top of a decent (sadly only decent) cut of meat. I scraped it off and had a huge pile of spice paste on my plate. I can accept this at a restaurant like Outback Steak house, but not at a highly rated steak house. Overall, not a very good experience. I talked to both the waiter and the manager who came by to check on us (I think she was the manager anyway) and they seemed legitimately concerned. When the bill came, they comped the appetizer. I was a little puzzled why they comped the app when it was not the main course I had issue with. What ever.

I have no complaints about the service, but it was just OK. We rarely saw the waiter, but he was there when my glass was empty. He was not much of a conversationalist... but he got the job done.

I will come back to Sante Fe another day... I will not be going back to Rio Chama though. I didn't have time to check any other steakhouses in Santa Fe, but certainly expect that Rio Chama is not the best Santa Fe has to offer. If so, I'll go to Outback...

My deepest regret regarding Rio Chama in Santa Fe is that I can only give an unfavorable review. My family visited this establishment on Sunday, 12/24/2023, on Christmas Eve for dinner.

Upon entry, we were hassled multiple times by the staff, asking if we had a reservation. We did. AND we had paid for four guests in advance at $100/person two weeks prior. Mind you, the restaurant was near empty, so I can’t imagine that a reservation would’ve made a difference.

We were seated and placed our orders for the four course prix fixe dinner. The first course truffle mushroom tartlet was creamy and tasteless. The pastry itself was dry and required a knife to cut. The Caesar salad was great. Our filet mignon steaks were grossly over cooked and harder than leather to cut into. Honestly I wonder if they cut up some sirloins and shaped them into medallions to pass as filets.

And then the pinnacle of the evening occurred at Rio Chama: we inquired about the two drink maximum policy, and were informed that we would not be served beyond two cocktails per person because Gerald Peters the owner has been repeatedly sued and was facing litigation for over service of alcohol leading to a number of DUIs, according to the General Manager Adam. The assistant General Manager (female) came to our table from the front desk area saying she saw us sharing drinks (from the other room??) and promptly confiscated three drinks from our table (which were NOT removed from our bill…)

We asked to speak to Adam the General Manager. He came out and aggressively explained the policy, stating that he has had this conversation many times with his (now dwindling) clientele. He angrily expressed that he is cussed out everyday for this policy, but again why as paying customers do we need to hear this as part of our fine dining experience on Christmas Eve?

Adam - I do not care if you have to offer this information personally to every client who walks through the door, but if you must, it should be handled delicately, respectfully, calmly, and with professionalism. One of the members of our party has visited your establishment for the past 20 years, yet the service and tone was completely disrespectful and inappropriate. I cannot imagine that this happened during an expensive holiday dinner.

2 hours and $700 later, we left hungry and irate that we were treated so poorly at a seemingly upscale prime steakhouse.

1 star - do not recommend. Merry Christmas, and a...